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Title: Hospitals Switch to Umbilical Sensors to Prevent Baby Snatching
Source:
Austin Statesman
URL Source: [None]
Published: Nov 20, 2008
Author: Tara A. Trower
Post Date: 2008-11-20 18:02:54 by CadetD
Keywords: ID, big brother, surveillance
Views: 156
Comments: 4
Hospitals switch to umbilical sensors to prevent baby snatching Tags are attached to umbilical cord stump after birth. By Tara A. Trower AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, November 20, 2008 New parents often tell the same story. At some point during their hospital stay, someone jostles the newborn's leg or arm. A security sensor gets dislodged, alarms go off and nurses come scrambling. Ever since leg band sensors became standard at most Central Texas hospitals to prevent abductions, it has always been a false alarm. But as new area hospitals come online, parents and visitors will start seeing changes, including wireless sensors attached to a newborn's umbilical cord stump moments after birth — preventing such false alerts and, officials hope, further deterring potential baby snatchers. The only way to get the 2 1/2-inch sensor and clamp off without injury is to have medical personnel remove it or to wait about two weeks for the umbilical stump to fall off, say officials at other hospitals who have used the technology. Seton Family of Hospitals is already using the tags at its new Williamson County hospital. It's finishing a $40 million construction project at the medical center on 38th Street, which includes a new maternity services wing that will open next month. Seton officials say they are changing security in the new wing, but won't say whether the tags will be part of the changes. "This is a really big issue for new parents," said Matt Dick, director of safety, security and emergency management for Seton. "People have read and heard stories about infants being taken from facilities, so we should augment the security being used in our perinatal department." Other Central Texas hospitals have been making the switch as new facilities open. Scott & White began using them last year in Round Rock and Temple. St. David's Healthcare still uses leg or wrist bands at its hospitals. Infant abductions by strangers — especially from hospitals — are very rare, with about 10 cases reported nationally each year. The number has remained fairly steady over the past two decades, but the share of hospital abductions has dropped from 63 percent of all cases to 32 percent, according to a study published by the American Journal of Nursing in September. Talking about security in general makes hospital officials nervous. They don't want to give too much information about how the technology works or how much it costs. Officials at Seton don't even want to say which hospitals are using the tags. They do say that the tags will allow nurses to know exactly where a newborn is at all times and increase nurse efficiency. "We had the opportunity through a change in direction to make a change in our network," Dick said. "There are technologies available that we didn't have before." The umbilical tags made news in 2007 after a high-profile baby abduction in Lubbock, where a woman dressed like a medical worker absconded with a 3-day-old. Investigators said that a 21-year-old woman circumvented the baby's leg band sensor at Covenant Lakeside Hospital after she decided against an attempt at Texas Tech's University Medical Center, where she saw that umbilical tags were being used. The baby was found unharmed a few days later in Clovis, N.M., and the woman later pleaded guilty to kidnapping. Lubbock's University Medical Center has been using the umbilical tags for six years at its maternity wing. The tags have been "a great experience," said University Medical spokeswoman Krista Dugan. "The elevators will shut down if the babies are removed from the wing, and the tags can only be removed by medical staff without causing the infant distress." The stump tissue does not have any nerves, so the tag does not cause discomfort, Dugan said. And the clamp doesn't slow the healing process because the umbilical area is open to the air. All the hospitals have additional security procedures and drill schedules that they will not discuss publicly Robin Cook, director of women's services at Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, stressed that no system is fail-safe. "I think it gives parents an extra feeling of security, but we stress to our parents and staff the need to be watchful," she said. "Nothing is 100 percent reliable." Even with tags and the other changes, Dick said, most visitors shouldn't notice much difference from other areas in the hospital. "Having a child is a joyous experience," he said. "We don't want to change it into something like trying to get on an airplane. But we are concerned for your child's safety - and that might require doing some things differently than you might have done for previous births."
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#1. To: CadetD (#0)
Get Ready for your CHIP
#3. To: noone222 (#2)
Nein werde ich zuerst sterben. (FreeTranslation: No I first will die.)
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